Use of internet-related networks (e.g., the World Wide Web) for multi-media conferencing presentations has increased dramatically in recent years. A conference moderator may communicate through audio and/or video transmissions, and may, as well, direct a conference participant to information stored on a computer network (e.g., Web pages). U.S. Pat. No. 5,944,791 describes an example of a presentation using the web. For coordination of the conference it is desirable for the moderator to be able to initiate and direct the participant's receipt of such information (so-called collaborative web browsing). To do this the moderator must send command data, such as uniform resource locator (URL) data, to the participant's digital processing system (DPS).
Unfortunately the Web browser command data is transmitted and received much quicker (e.g., about 2 seconds in a typical situation) than the associated audio and/or video data (e.g., about 20–40 seconds in a typical situation). FIG. 1 shows the transmission of data to a participant DPS. The multimedia conferencing system 100 of FIG. 1 is comprised of a controlling server 110 and a participant DPS 120. As shown in FIG. 1, media data transmitted from the controlling server takes 20–45 seconds to be received by the participant DPS whereas the URL data is transmitted and received in about 2 seconds. This is due to the fact that audio and/or video data must be processed and buffered to effect a smooth and seemingly continuous reception and display at the participant DPS. Therefore, when the moderator sends the participant(s) a URL command so that the participant will view a particular Web page, the moderator's audio and/or video transmission associated with that particular Web page is delayed. This has a disconcerting affect on the conference.